Suntrust Fields Bids For Offices

April 4, 2002|By Barry Flynn, Sentinel Staff Writer

SunTrust Banks Inc. is asking substantially more than $1 million each for six of the nine branches it is selling in Central Florida and expects to announce the winning bidders on those and other properties by next week.

The bank is shedding 40 properties around the state, including 14 in Central Florida, because of the overlap from its recent purchase of Huntington National Bank's Florida operations.

Although the properties are mostly former Huntington branches, some are former SunTrust offices that were closed in favor of nearby Huntington branches. Also, some are either office space or branches that the bank leases.

The highest-priced Central Florida branch for sale, based on SunTrust's published asking prices, is also the biggest: a two-story office at 100 Park Place Boulevard in Kissimmee, for which SunTrust is asking $1.85 million.

The cheapest one is the smallest: a 2,317-square-foot building at 201 N. Park Ave., Sanford, for which the bank is asking $450,000.

Among the 40 properties, which extend from Central Florida across the state to the Tampa area and south to Naples, the highest-priced office is another two-story building, in Clearwater, for which SunTrust is asking $2.1 million.

SunTrust is still reviewing the bids because bidders were allowed some discretion in stating other, noncash proposed terms of the sale or lease assumptions, said Tony Bower, head of corporate real estate for the bank's northern Florida region.

In most cases, the bank will not ask potential buyers to re-bid but will simply take the "highest and best bids." However, if no bids approach the asking price, a property may not be sold. Also, there may be some cases of identical bids, in which case the bank will need a "tie-breaker," he said.

Bower said the bank received "probably over 100 bids" altogether and at least one on every property. Some of the more attractive branches may have drawn as many as 10 bids. Although some bidders are banks, others include retailers, investors and developers, Bower said.

Huntington's former Florida headquarters and some other space in downtown Orlando, as well as land and a building on Sand Lake Road -- all leased properties -- are among those up for bid.